


Hatred You Harbor (Even While Being Saved)

by PansexualDonnaNoble



Series: Where Revolutions End, You Can Begin [3]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angry Hank Anderson, Angst, Gen, Good Parent Hank Anderson, Hospitals, Mentions of Cole - Freeform, Minor Connor Whump, hank centric, hank yelling at gavin reed, mentions of blue blood but nothing graphic, missing scene from my connor fanfic, north and hank interacting, not really necessary to read that one first
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-02
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-11-07 20:32:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17967560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PansexualDonnaNoble/pseuds/PansexualDonnaNoble
Summary: A missing scene from When You Leave The Garden (Find Peace)Hank has a few things to say to Gavin.





	Hatred You Harbor (Even While Being Saved)

There's a number of moments in his fairly long life where he's felt nearly five seconds away from having a heart attack from some worrying bullshit. The number only gets higher with his age.

Driving Connor to New Jericho as he fails to follow _any_  saftey rules of the road while said android was bleeding out in the passenger seat from two bullets lodged in his hip, was definitely one of those moments.

Whether or not it was _actually_  life threatening, Hank didn't know in the moment, Connor seemed to think it wasn't. It didn't stop him from being pissed.

He tries his best to blink away the memories threatening to force themselves to be remembered.

Sometimes the kid could be really _stupid._  Like jumping in front of others during a fire fight, stupid.

Holding Cole meters away from a crimson car wrecked and kissed by flames. The biting cold of the several inches snow. His knees sinking into it as he kneels. The out of body numbness as the ambulance arrived. Pacing the hallways of the blindingly bright hospital until his feet felt moments away from bleeding. The frantic silent prayers despite his faith running out of gas decades ago.

He needs to breathe. This is not that.

It would be _fine._  He had told himself. There was only so much blood because it _was_ a bullet wound. Android or human you bled no matter _where_  you were lucky enough to get shot.

And the bastard wasn't dying today because of Gavin Fucking Reed. That was for fucking certain. Whenever Connor's done bleeding out in his passenger seat, he's going to (politely) request that _he doesn't do something so reckless and fucking dangerous like he's a goddamn superman in real life._

Connor would go, eventually probably. He isn't sure if there was an old age for androids, it wasn't like they got sick like humans. Or a certain age where they just... stopped working. He knew jack shit about any of that. But he'd croak long before Connor ever did. If the bastard would _stop_  doing this.

Gavin better buy him a drink after this. And whatever android equivalent there was for Connor.

He had left him with other officers to take care of the arrests, not that he was in any way jumping at the nearest chance to accompany them to Jericho. Didn't even _ask_ if Connor would be okay.

He doesn't think it's _all_  because of him being an android. Gavin had been a pain in his ass since the moment he first joined the DPD. If Connor was a human, he doesn't think it would be any different. Gavin Reed had no sympathy for those he disliked. Some people were just born a _prick._

Connor has to go into stasis for the android doctors (he knows they have a proper name, he doesn't really give a shit right now,) to repair the inital damage. It wasn't bad. It could of much been worse. He's seen androids drop like flies from a single fragile hit to the stomach.

He doesn't know what he would of done, if the bullet had chosen to make its home there instead. He wouldn't of gotten a new partner. He knew that much. He doesn't think he could _stand_  whatever fucking person would be assigned to him. And, if he was being honest, who the hell knew if he could survive another fucking loss again.

And besides, there would be _no_  other partner. It implied Connor was replaceable. No one could replace Connor. No Fucking One.

In a matter of three months his life seemed to change due to the arrival of the android. That seemed to be the only thing he knew for sure. Connor saw something in him worth keeping him alive for. He was such an _asshole_ to him when they had met. Connor still saw the good in him even then.

He saw the good in everyone.

He's still by the kid's bedside the next morning. He's exhausted and running on empty, having been here all of last evening and night despite the guarentee of Connor's quick recovery, and in the same clothes. He can't see it anymore, but he knows they're stained blue. If this had been a regular hospital, he would of been told to leave hours ago.

He runs a hand over his face, stretching and sighing. Sumo had probably torn the house apart in their absence. Sumo and..

Fuck. He remembers. Connor had a fish to feed to at home.

He loved that fish, cherished the damn thing ever since Hank had gotten him it on Christmas Day. He was gonna feel like a _jackass_  if he let it die.

His eyes flick to Connor's unconscious form on the makeshift bed. It was stasis, yet he managed to look like any other sleeping human. He looked peaceful.

He thinks if Cole survived, maybe he would of gotten to see him like this. Maybe bruised, but still kicking. Instead of being _gone._ Maybe he could of sat by his bedside until he woke up if things had been different. He'd do anything to wake up to a screaming neck in some shitty chair as his son slept peacefully and _alive._ in the hospital.

He hears footsteps approaching him, taking only another two seconds to look at the other man before facing the owner of them.

He's seen the chestnut haired woman before only briefly, the soup kitchen in December, or when she's knocked at his door to drag Connor to who knows where. Not that it was a bad thing. The kid had _friends._  Good for him. He doesn't actually remember her name. He thinks it could be North, but either way recognizes her model from the now defunct Eden Club. Thank fuck for that.

She looks down at where he sits, frowning. "Have you.. been here all night?" Her tone is quiet, no doubt in an effort to allow the other android more moments of rest.

He looks back at her. "Yeah, and?" It comes out snappy and rough, more from the lack of sleep than any real maliace. He needed sleep in an actual bed probably.

The other is quiet for a few seconds, as if studying him. She crosses her arms. "Why?"

"What are you talking about?

"You gave him a home after the revolution I heard." She says. And he never shuts up about _you."_  She's looking at him like he's a puzzle she's chosen to solve.

"You chose to be here all night when you've probably already been told he's going to be perfectly _alright._  You obviously _care_ about him. I do too. He's a good friend. A good man." She pauses to look at the man in question. "But the difference is, i'm also an android."

Hank sighs. "Not everyone human's out to get ya, you know. We aren't all assholes."

She scoffs, her eyes narrowing. "Debatable. And easy for you to say as one."

He rolls his eyes. "Trust me, sweetheart-"

"Do _not_  call me sweetheart."

"-Then trust me, when I say that if some human is being a fucking _bastard,_  i'm not going to jump to defend them and their choices just because we both are the same damn species."

She shifts, looking down for a moment letting a sniff out. "I guess I just want to know why."

"Why, what?"

" _Why_ you're here." She asks softly. "Why you've done anything for him ever. You don't seem to want anything from him."

She doesn't want Connor hurt. He realizes. In a way this interrogation didn't just come from a general distrust.  Maybe it came from some protectiveness. It felt reassuring to know someone was looking out for him when he could not. Like a sister looking out for a brother.

He sighs. The only answer was the truth.

"Because.. that's what family does, I guess."

The android blinks, her eyebrows raising. "You aren't Connor's father." She states.

"It isn't about blood. It's.. Connor's like a son to me." It's the first time he's said it out loud.

Something unknown crosses her features, and her eyes seem less hardened towards him. "You.. you mean that, don't you?" It sounds more like a statement than an actual question.

He sighs. "Yeah."

She watches him for another moment, eyes flicking from Connor's form to his.

"Go home. You smell awful. And that chair is _very_ uncomfortable. He'll be _fine,_ Lieutenant."

He doesn't at first. Looking back at Connor.

"Go, If he wakes up and you're not here I definitely I will be. Now _go."_  She orders.

Her voice is flat, but there's none of the distrust in it from before. He doesn't think he changed her mind about humans. Not that he blamed her, the human race was a shitshow. But her eyes don't have a fire in them when he takes one last look at her.

He walks out of Jericho sluggishly, the morning sun is blindingly bright as he opens the doors. He's on autopilot as he unlocks his car and heads home to feed Sumo and the fish. But he doesn't stay.

He had a few things to say to Gavin Reed.

He's about two hours late to work when he walks determinedly into the precinct, eyes scanning for a familiar mop of brown hair. He hasn't been this late since Connor started living with him. It didn't matter. He just needed to fucking talk to the _asshole._

Ignoring the _loud_ stare of one Jeffrey Fowler from behind the glass window of his office, it takes him about two minutes to find him once he finds he's not at his desk.

He finds him outside, from behind the building. Taking his smoke break.

Gavin makes eye contact with him. "The fuck's wrong with you? Five hours clean from your whiskey?"

He walks up to him, grabbing the lit cigarette from his fingers, only recieving the beginning of a swear that doesn't fully make it out as he stomps it on the ground. He stares him down. Smoking would kill him faster than he was about to do himself. "You and me are gonna have a fucking talk."

"Oh are we?" Gavin smirks.

"He almost died for you."

"Who-"

"You know who i'm talking about you _prick!_ Connor almost died taking a bullet for you and you're carrying on as if nothing even happened!" He yells.

"Hey it's not like I _asked_  it to fucking do that, alright?" He says quickly. "And your hypocrisy is amazing, by the way."

Hank walks a steady pace back and forth, pinching the bridge of his nose. "He jumps in front of ya and you can't even acknowledge he's not an object. And I _know_  I was like you once. But I _moved on. I grew_ "

Hank continues at Gavin's silence. "He's tried to be nice to since day fucking one. He's seen the _good_  in you at times. He's never done a _thing_  to you!" His frustration at the previous days events comes out, his voice a harsh whisper. He sighs. "You're a smug asshole Reed." His voice is empty. "And he still chose to save you. And i'd bet all I have that you would of just it happen if it had been him instead."

Gavin uncharacteristically stays silent. "He's fine though. Right? Obviously it wasn't fatal."

 _He._  He doubts it, but maybe they were getting _somewhere_  at least. It was the first time it had been _he._

"He had to get some repairs. A few of them. But he's fine. He's gonna be fucking f _ine."_  He informs.

Gavin nods once. "That's good I guess. Don't want you to start stinking this place up with booze again. That was depressing for everyone involved."

Gavin's insults mostly consisted of alcohol related snide comments. Once upon a time, about a year after Cole had died, when Gavin had still been new to the force, one of his insults implied he was more of a drunk than a proper father.

It's not like he _knew_  about Cole.  He had probably seen the photo he had, at the time, kept up on his desk. It didn't stop him from decking him.

He hasn't brought up Cole since, and for all his many faults, at least Gavin had enough compassion to never throw it in his face again. Knew where the line in the sand was. He was an asshole. But he wasn't a _monster._

After a moment of silence, Gavin speaks again.

"Can I go back to my job now that you've ruined my break and are done screaming?"

"Talk to him." He blurts.

"What?"

"Go to New Jericho. Don't be an asshole there either, they outnumber you. But at least _talk to him."_  He asks.

"About _what?"_

"I don't know!" Hank exclaims. "Thank him? Thank him for saving your life maybe? Just _go_  there."

Gavin scoffs. Hank walks towards the doors, pausing to look at him.

"It's about time you learned androids are people, just like us. But I can't  scream that into ya. No matter how much I yell. Just think about it. Use your brain for _once."_

He heads back inside, hearing the door close behind him.

Who even knows if today will change a damn thing. But he wasn't going to let Gavin walk from the previous day quietly and without being even one _tiny_  bit of grateful.

Connor deserved better than that.  



End file.
